Seating Short Boolits for .308

[Coote]

I'm fairly new to shooting home-cast lead.

I want to load cast boolits for hunting, and I am interested in quieter loads (slower speeds). I tend to agree with folks who say that a flat nosed boolit is better for hunting than a more pointed projectile.

I've seen references here to the Lee 'soup can' .... and I am assuming that this is the boolit you'd get from a Lee 309-113F mould. It seems that this could be a good boolit for hunting smaller game.

However it seems to be very short, and I understand that having a big jump to the rifling isn't a good thing for a lead boolit.

So before I order a mould, I want to know if you folks think that this projectile is likely to suit a .308

Can this projectile be seated in the case securely AND be protruding enough to kiss the rifling? In general, if a lead projectile has a big jump to the rifling will it significantly affect accuracy or cause any problem?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.... Stephen Coote, New Zealand.

[x101airborne]

Not only check the nose diamater and length, but I have found that the depth the gas check is seated in the neck matters a whole lot also. Once the gas check gets below the neck, my accuracy has suffered. As far as the 7mm soup can, my son is shooting it out of an H&R single shot and it is hard NOT to have it contact the throat because of its diamater. It is a very good boolit and capable of some really good accuracy. My boy's rifle gets around 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards and it is plenty good to let him practice with his 7mm-08.

[Larry Gibson]

That Lee bullet will do fine in the .308W at the "quieter loads (slower speeds)" you want. Use a GC for best results though at velocities under 1000 fps accuracy w/o the GC may suit your needs. Size to "as cast" or .311, whichever is larger. Set so the lube groove is just covered by the case neck and "go" with that. At lower velocities the "long jump" won't matter if the load is worked up with your slower speeds and accuracy in mind.

Bullseye and Unique work very well. I favor Bullseye for loads up through 1400 fps and Unique for loads above that. I shoot many, many such light weight bullets in my .30/.31 cal rifles at 800 -900 fps and at right around 1400 fps for plinking, pest removal and small game hunting with excellent accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[Coote]

Thanks very much for the good information.

[1Shirt]

Agree with Larry G. Suggest in addition however that for light loads in 308 with the little blts you watch your brass closely. Mark the cases that you use for these and keep seperate from full power loads. Otherwise if you go from the lite load brass to full power loads you may run into a headspace problem. Good luck!
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Coote]

Thanks. Good idea. I will keep the brass separate.